oglebay park

Having heard about Oglebay's Festival of Lights for years, our family finally decided to make the 90 minute drive to see it. Our family (ages 12-87) were all underwhelmed by the light display. It is certainly nowhere near worth the $20 "suggested donation."If you are already staying at or near Oglebay, by all means, see the Festival of lights. However, I would not recommend making a special trip of any distance just to see the light display. In this day and age of spectacular LED/projected computer assisted home displays, Oglebay's quaint holiday lights would only be considered impressive were this 1958. It rates as simply OK by today's standards. If you don't mind not driving through the two less than spectacular light "tunnels" and bypassing the "donation" toll booths, you might wish to counter the bumper-to-bumper suggested route.The Festival of Lights dinner buffet is very good! The food was excellent. Simple fare- but tasty fresh and plentiful with something for everyone. There is a wheelchair/walker lift to transport anyone who can't navigate stairs to the buffet floor. Servers were neat, polite and attentive. The excellent buffet dinner made up for the underwhelming light display.

The ski and snowboarding slope at Oglebay is small but perfect for a fun afternoon. The lift runs efficiently and quickly. The lodge is close, though a bit crowded. I would go back for a relaxed day of easy boarding.

Beautiful property that is part city park, part state park and part golf resort. It has more to offer than expected on a large, hilly estate that feels like many smaller parks rolled into one.

So many things to do for adults and kids. Holiday time in the winter one of the, if not the best, light display in the country.

This city park is beyond compare. It is rustic, hilly and you can see for miles from the Lodge. I've gone there for 60 years and have found no city park that compares.

Have rented cabins there yearly for 45 years. Oglebay has always been part of my life, from attending Day Camp in the 1950's to supporting the Mansion Museum today. A beautiful place to just. "Be."

One of the largest city parks in America, with 3 regular golf courses and one par three course, acres and acres of beautiful landscape and many cabins as well as the lodge, Oglebay is a marvelous location for a refreshing, quiet getaway.

I love the hotel and the people hospitality what i didnt like there was not much to do on the resort other then skiing, spa indoor swimming the spa was a little pricey

We really enjoy Christmas and years ago did a large display and love seeing Christmas lights in different settings. This one is so neat to drive through. In the summer it is a beautiful place to also visit

Great park for family and friends. Golf is available and course is well designed. Driving range was affordable and fun as well. Park contains large areas for picnics and large enough for the kids to play.

The grounds at Oglebay are really pretty, the lodge has a nice lobby and the bar and restaurant are pretty nice. The rooms are average. Took the kids to see the Christmas lights- they were impressed for a few minutes, but not to into it after. Traffic was absolutely insane. We did the trolley tour- wasn't quite worth it.

Oglebay Park is thousands of acres, specializing in outdoor experiences. There's a zoo, paddle boats, mini golf, playgrounds, large outdoor pool, three golf courses, riding stables, and miles of walking paths. It can be a free experience or easily an expensive place.

We visted the festival of lights during the week after Christmas and had a very enjoyable visit. On the advice of friends, we did the trolley tour and were glad we did. We didn't stay at the lodge but at a nearby hotel. The lodge had a lounge upstairs with free hot chocalate and cookies and musical entertainment which we really enjoyed. The hostess at the front desk was very nice and even allowed me to use a computer to mapquest directions back to our hotel since I'd forgotten to do that and didn't have a GPS.

Sorry to hear that your experience was not what you were expecting but we do appreciate that you took the time to post your comments. The Winter Festival of Lights is one of the top holiday light shows in the country and because of its popularity traffic can become heavy and we apologize for your extended travel time. We work closely with area law enforcement and increase our own security staff during the show to help keep traffic flowing. There is no admission to the Winter Festival of Lights but we do stop and ask visitors for contributions as Oglebay is a not-for-profit municipal park and contributions are used for maintaining and upgrading the light show and park facilities. The suggested donation is $20 per car but any amount is appreciated, and any visitor that elects not to contribute is still welcome to enjoy the Festival of Lights. There is an admission to the Good Zoo at Oglebay, where during the day several rare and endangered species are on display, and during the evening the Light and Music Extravaganza is presented on the zoo patio. The zoo also offers laser shows, a model train display and indoor Discovery Lab. We hope to see you again!

We had a great time seeing the lights as a small family gathering time with the whole purpose of the trip to see the lights. We picked a great time to go with the weather being nice and not too busy with cars. It was the first time back in over 20 years and it was great to see all the new animated light displays.